Too cold for the once red-hot Usain Bolt

USAIN Bolt's glittering career swansong came crashing to an end when he pulled up injured on the anchor leg of the 4x100m relay at the World Championships on Sunday morning (AEST).

Bolt received the baton with Jamaica in third, but halfway down the finishing straight the towering sprinter pulled up clutching his left thigh, eventually doing a forward somersault to the ground, to gasps from the 60,000 watching on at London Stadium.

The result means Bolt, 100 and 200m world record holder, finishes his career with 14 world career medals, one behind American Allyson Felix, to go with eight Olympic golds.

Bolt was attended to by medics but refused a ride in a wheelchair off the track, instead finally getting up and limping alongside his teammates through to the finish line and then off into the bowels of the stadium for treatment.

Bolt's teammate Yohan Blake slammed organisers for letting the medal presentation for the women's high jump run overtime, which meant the start of the relay was delayed by roughly 10 minutes.

Blake also said Bolt had a bad feeling before the race about what the delayed start time would mean.

"A hero of the sport to go down like that, as a true friend, I didn't like it one bit," Blake said. "They were holding us too long.

"To be holding us so long was atrocious.

"Usain was getting cold and he said, 'I don't like this'.

"They were holding us too long.

"Too many presentations so the race was 10 minutes long. It was cold."

Jamaican team doctor Kevin Jones later clarified Bolt suffered from a hamstring cramp, but the physical pain was overshadowed by the emotional anguish.

"It's cramps in his left hamstring but a lot of pain is from the disappointment of losing the race. The last three weeks have been hard for him, we hope for the best," Jones said.